MWENYA Musenge says Zambia today has leaders who are so selfish and busy plundering little resources from the citizens.
He has described first republican president Dr Kenneth Kaunda as a statesman who gave it all for the Zambian people.
Reflecting on the life of Dr Kaunda, Musenge, a former Copperbelt minister, said Zambia has leaders who are in it for self-interest.
“Dr Kaunda is a statesman the Zambian people have lost. He loved the Zambian people more than himself. He treated us like his own children and always wanted the best for the people. Kaunda is the only leader who tried to ensure that each Zambian had a full meal in a day,” he said. “If I reflect on the leadership that we have today, there is no one I can point at who has come anywhere closer to the leadership of Dr Kaunda. How I pray that all those who are aspiring for national leadership should take lessons from this man. The politicians that have mushroomed today are not there to serve the people.”
Musenge said people are in leadership today for self-enjoyment and amassing of public funds.
“They are more interested in self-enjoyment, self-benefits, amassing wealth as individuals. We have literally lost the value of leadership in Zambia. As long as we do not trace back the roots of Kaunda – as long as we do not look back at what Kaunda stood for – if we don’t change, this country will continue to wallow in poverty,” he warned. “We have lost a great leader. But we can’t just leave it there and say he was a great leader. The only way we can honour Kaunda is for the current leadership to reflect. Politics of this country, there is nothing inspiring today, worthy talking about. We just have people plundering the little resources that we have for the people people. Kaunda brought about humanism, but we threw it away.”
Musenge said the achievements of Dr Kaunda have been thrown away.
“All the achievements of Kaunda to unite the country were reversed. Tribalism is eating us as a nation. We are not taking any measures to fight this monster of tribalism. Let us look at how Kaunda managed to unite this country on One Zambia One Nation. As a people, we should not divide people,” said Musenge. “It is nonsensical for any leader to start dividing the people on tribal campaigns and say they love Kaunda, that is nonsense! Let us sing the song Tiyende Pamodzi with love and care for each other.”